Are folks in SC getting married or divorced more often these days? What new Census data shows

Marriage has long been a life milestone for many Americans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s as popular as it was in the past.

Has marriage declined around the nation in recent years? Conversely, are there more or fewer divorces?

And how does South Carolina stack up compared to the rest of the U.S.?

The U.S. Census Bureau recently unveiled national and state level marriage and divorce trend data that sheds light on those questions.

The Census reviewed data from 2012 to 2022. The marriage and divorce rates were based on the number of women who married or divorced per 1,000 women 15 years old and older.

Below are the marriage and divorce rates for South Carolina and the U.S. as a whole.

SC marriage and divorce rates

More South Carolinians have been tying the knot lately.

South Carolina ranked 4th for highest rate of marriages in the U.S. at 20.6 per 1,000 women in 2022, the most recent data available. That’s 3.9 more marriages per 1,000 women than were reported a year earlier.

Still, 2022 was not a statistically significant change compared to the 18.4 per 1,000 marriage rate South Carolina had in 2012, the data shows. And yet, South Carolina ranked 21st for highest rate of marriages in 2012.

Divorce

South Carolina ranked 24th highest at 7.5 per 1,000 for rate of divorces in the U.S. in 2022. That’s relatively no change compared to the 7.1 divorce rate the state had in 2021, the data shows.

South Carolina’s 2022 divorce rate was not statistically significantly different from the 7.5 rate it had in 2021, the Census states.

However, South Carolina ranked a lower 36th among states for rate of divorces in 2012.

Nationwide marriage and divorce trends

The national marriage rate was 16.7 per 1,000 women in 2022. In 2012, the marriage rate was 16.6 in the U.S., showing flat change.

However, the national divorce rate was 7.1 that year in 2022, compared to 9.8 in 2012, showing a significant decline.

In 2022:

• Washington, D.C., Colorado and Nebraska had among the nation’s highest marriage rates, at 24.4, 20.9 and 20.8, respectively. These rates, however, do not significantly differ from each other.
• New Mexico had among the lowest marriage rates at 12.1.
• Arkansas and Wyoming had among the highest divorce rates – 11.9 and 11.0, respectively (not a significant difference).
• Vermont had a divorce rate of 4.6, among the lowest in the nation.